Aristide, Haiti's exiled former president, offers to return

[Joanne98]

Speaking from Johannesburg, South Africa, the former priest says he feels a profound need to help.


Reporting from Johannesburg — Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, deposed and exiled in a 2004 coup, offered today to return to Haiti, saying he could not wait to go home and rebuild his country after Tuesday's devastating earthquake.

In a rare public statement, he said he felt a profound need to go to try to save the lives of victims awaiting rescue.

Aristide said supporters around the world had promised a plane to fly him in, with emergency relief. Yet he offered no details on how he planned to return. His choice of venue -- a hotel at Johannesburg's international airport, was symbolic of his will to return, Aristide said.

"As far as we are concerned, we are ready to leave today, tomorrow, at any time to join the people of Haiti, to share in their suffering, help rebuild the economy, moving from misery to poverty with dignity," Aristide said, reading a statement in an almost inaudible whisper. His wife Mildred was at his side, her eyes downcast throughout the brief news conference.

Aristide, 56, a former priest, was visibly emotional, wiping away tears as he left the room after reading the statement.

Supporters in Haiti have continued to call for his return over the years, and he remains popular with many Haitians. In 2006, Aristide said Haitians wanted his return: "It's a love story. They love me and I love them," he told the BBC, hinting he was interested in teaching, not politics.

The earthquake has only deepened his wish to return.

"While we cannot wait to be with our sisters and brothers in Haiti, we share the anguish of all Haitians in the diaspora who are desperate to reach family and loved ones," he said.

He refused to take questions on whether he planned to fly to Haiti without an official invitation.

Aristide was Haiti's first democratically elected leader in 1990 but was ousted in a military coup led by the army a year later. He regained power in 1994 and was reelected as president in 2000, before being toppled again in a violent 2004 coup.

He was flown in a U.S. plane in an evacuation organized by the U.S., France and Canada to the Central African Republic in what he later described as a "kidnapping."

Continued>>>>
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fgw-haiti-aristide16-2010jan16,0,196742.story

[dalaigh lllama]

1. Curious to see what more knowledgeable DUers say

I've had a crash course in Haitian history this week for all the sad reasons. Do you think he could and/or should return?

[struggle4progress]

2. He was really Haiti's first democratically-elected president, and CIA assets ousted him

during his first term under Bush I. Under Clinton, he was reinstated but had to agree to neoliberal reforms. He was later elected to a second term, and CIA assets under Bush II ousted him again: the American military deported him at gunpoint in the night, dropping him off in the Central African Republic. The US then installed a bunch of Floridian folk as Haiti's new government

Both ousters were followed by periods of extreme violence and human rights violations by coup sympathizers. As far as I can tell, Aristide's always had a lot of support in Haiti. The US rightwing has long disliked him, however; even a quarter of a century again, in Haiti's Bébé Doc years, when Aristide was still a Catholic priest with a liberation theological view, the Reaganites were demonizing him. The 2004 coup was preceded by a long propaganda campaign in the US media that included ugly manufactured quotes and wild claims

A useful website for the pro-Aristide POV is: http://aristide.org/

Here's an example of work documenting the post-coup violence:

The Lancet, Volume 368, Issue 9538, Pages 864 - 873, 2 September 2006
Human rights abuse and other criminal violations in Port-au-Prince, Haiti: a random survey of households
Athena R Kolbe MSW, Dr Royce A Hutson PhD
... Reliable evidence of the frequency and severity of human rights abuses in Haiti after the departure of the elected president in 2004 was scarce. We assessed data from a random survey of households in the greater Port-au-Prince area ... Our findings suggested that 8000 individuals were murdered in the greater Port-au-Prince area during the 22-month period assessed. Almost half of the identified perpetrators were government forces or outside political actors. Sexual assault of women and girls was common, with findings suggesting that 35 000 women were victimised in the area; more than half of all female victims were younger than 18 years. Criminals were the most identified perpetrators, but officers from the Haitian National Police accounted for 13·8% and armed anti-Lavalas groups accounted for 10·6% of identified perpetrators of sexual assault. Kidnappings and extrajudicial detentions, physical assaults, death threats, physical threats, and threats of sexual violence were also common ...
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2806%2969211-8/abstract

[snappyturtle]

3. I would like to hear from more knowledgeable DUers too, HOWEVER,

what I have learned over the lasst few days, would suggest that Aristide would never be allowed to return.

[sabrina 1]

5. He was very popular with the people of Haiti

He wasn't 'ousted' as the MSM here says. His ideas for Haiti, education, raise the minimum wage etc. did not appeal to the elites who have kept that country in poverty since it dared to proclaim itself independent.

So, he was kidnapped at gunpoint, I remember his pleas over the radio and Maxine Waters was frantic as she tried to get help for him. Many believe it was a US backed coup. The US was always friendly to Haiti's dictators and there are still Duvalier thugs in Haiti who are extremely violent, and many believe were used to start riots in order to remove him.

The only people who would refuse to let him return, would be the US and its Global Capitalist allies. The people there I am sure, would welcome him back.

He is extremely intelligent and educated, speaking eight languages fluently. He always loved the poor, and they loved him.

I think you are right that he will not be allowed back. Naomi Klein's warning is probably right on target. I already heard an Obama administration spokesperson say that the 'Government has to be reinstated'. That means that the current puppet government, missing in action at the moment, is who they want. They will not allow Aristedes to return with his ideas that Haiti should not be dependent on the World Bank and that it's people deserve an education and are entitled to a living wage. Those multi-nationals like their cheap labor.

[midnight]

4. Ooops.....

He was flown in a U.S. plane in an evacuation organized by the U.S., France and Canada to the Central African Republic in what he later described as a "kidnapping."

This does not sound very nice....

[elleng]

6. Here's a history;

little of u.s. involvement is discussed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Haiti